Band Geeks and Chemic Pride

I was standing on my parents' deck last night when I realized one of the things that I will really miss when I finally move into my house. As I grilled a quick hotdog and brat for Dad and I, I listened to the Midland High band practicing. They were playing the fight song and I sang along in my head. My neighbors would not appreciate me actually singing out loud! That's why I was in the band, not the choir. The volume rose and fell as I'm sure they were "spinning the M"...or for those of you who are not MHS Band Geek Alumnus...when they are marching to form the block M on the football field.

For the last 12 years, since I graduated from that same band, I have taken for granted that at least one night a week in the fall I would get to hear the cadence of the drums or the sound of the band practicing their latest show in the parking lot at the high school. I've known that if I don't go to a football game on Friday night, I could hear the game and the halftime show from my house. Sure, I've heard it, and I've enjoyed it...but I didn't realize that I would miss it when I finally moved out. Sure, I can hear the Western band from my new house...but my blood runs blue...I would much rather listen to Midland High.

A wonderful teacher I had at Midland High coined the phrase "Chemic Pride, a very special tradition." For Sentimental Sallys like me that couldn't ring more true. I was a band geek through and through. I played sports too, but my best friends were all band geeks like me. :) I can't remember how many clocks were knocked off the walls or broken by tubas when the band would march through the hall on the Fridays of home football games. I still have pictures and memories from parades, football games, and coming to Wednesday night practices with my hair still wet from swim practice.

I know that I'm older now and that I need to move out of my parents' house. Don't get me wrong...I want to move out of my parents' house. But with that goes so many securities and benefits. Many of these things are as simple as knowing that Mom is going to have groceries in the house most of the time. She's also going to take care of the lawn and plant nice flowers out front. If something goes wrong with anything in the house Dad is there to fix it. If I need a tool to fix something or change my oil Dad probably has 2 of them somewhere right on hand that I can use. It's knowing that every Wednesday Dad has the garbage out at the curb. It's also as simple as listening to the Midland High band on a cool fall night.

So while I'm excited to move out, I know I'm stepping into some deep, scary, uncharted waters for me. Until next summer I'm going to try to appreciate those little things and enjoy them before I have start stocking my own cupboards, taking out my own trash, mowing my own lawn, and being responsible for everything in my new house.

Basement Walls Up? Check!

After it rained ALL WEEK, we finally reached a pretty big milestone on Saturday afternoon. The final walls of the basement went up. The picture above shows pretty much what it looks like now. There are a few more sheets of plywood up, but there are still some open holes to allow people to get in and out and to allow some space for the concrete chute when they pour the floor.

Yesterday we were mud-sligners. The constant rain has caved in the sides of the hole a bit, quite a bit in the corners. So we had to clean that out and put some more pea gravel in so we could walk around the outside of the house without getting stuck. This is some back breaking work! The clay is pretty heavy and it sticks to the shovel. So after about 2-3 shovels full the shovel is too heavy to pick up and needs to be cleaned off. I also came close to losing a shoe stepping in a pile of muck that came pretty darn close to my ankle! It's dangerous work I tell you!

This week we have to do some rough in plumbing for a future bathroom and bar in the basement. We also have to do the plumbing for the sump pump. Once that is in we'll have them pour the floor. Dad is also hoping to set the steel support beams this week. I'm hoping it stays dry enough to get that done. If it doesn't dry up out there we might not be able to get the trucks in. Well...we could probably get them in. Getting them out might be another issue!

Once the floor is poured we'll be able to put the sub-floor on and get cracking on the rest of the house! :)

So pray for no more rain until we have the shingles on!

Please No More Rain!

We haven't had as much progress this week as we would have liked, but it is moving along. It has rained pretty much everyday this week. Some nights we've been able to go out, others it's not an option.

Monday night we pumped out the basement. We also finished sheeting the south wall sections while we waited.

Tuesday we stood the south wall. There wasn't enough daylight left to make it worth hauling the generator out of the van to start building the remaining 2 walls. So it was an early night.

Wednesday night we took a break and went to a Loons game. It was nice that the Loons had a good night and won. Although they played the West Michigan Whitecaps (the Detroit Tigers A team) and the Whitecaps didn't look too good...makes me worry for our Tigers prospects! :) Mother Nature waited until the end of the game to open up the skies on us again. We got quite a bit more rain throughout the evening.

Thursday afternoon some thunderstorms also came through the area. So you can guess the amount of water we had around the basement last night. We got it all pumped out, with one minor issue. The hose came off the pump while I started the it and I got a bit of a shower. :) We finished building the remaining walls last night and should sheet them tonight or tomorrow.

It's a good thing we finished with the heavy lifting on Tuesday since Laura headed back to school today. We'll have to make do without her for a few months now.

All the basement walls should be up early Saturday I would assume. We have to fill in some spots with plywood. Then we can have the plumbing for a bathroom in the basement roughed in and the floor can be poured. After that we start building the first floor!

So let's hope for some good weather so we can continue our progress!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Rain, rain, go away...and come again in say...2008?

We had both a productive and non-productive weekend. How can that be you ask? We had hoped to have all the basement walls up this weekend and celebrate with a fire and wieney roast on Sunday. Friday night Dad, Grandpa and I worked hard to get as many walls built and sheeted as we could. Saturday Laura and Mom came out to help stand the north walls. Then Laura tagged Grandpa in while she headed to the beach. Grandpa, Mom, Dad and I stood a good portion of the west walls. We started working on the south side of the house when the rain started...and it was a cold rain. Dad and I finished as much as we could and ended up nailing the last sheet of plywood on with a flashlight for guidance.

Sunday it rained, and it rained, and it rained. So much for getting all the basement walls up!

It rained a good portion of the day yesterday too, but was done by the time I left work. Dad and I went out with the sump pump to pump the water out of the basement. While that was going we finished sheeting the south walls. So those will go up tonight, as long as the rain holds off.

I'm betting that no one that reads this knew that my father could be one of the long lost Duke boys of Hazzard County! I didn't know it either until we tried to get out of the quagmire mud pit on my lot. The clay makes the mud all that much more slippery and difficult to drive in. Now remember that we're driving a full-size van...and imagine the back end sliding all over the place, at one point pretty close to my ditch, tires spinning trying to get hold of the ground, as we're heading out to the road. We didn't take the van leaping over any dried up river beds, or through any road block signs, but it was as close to Dukes of Hazzard driving as we'll get anytime soon. :)

Sorry...no pictures today. I'll work on getting some when the walls are complete.

Grandpas Are Great!

This is my grandpa, he will turn 83 next month. Unfortunately I only get to see him in the summer when he comes up from down south to his house in Michigan. This is the person that taught my dad how to build houses. They worked side by side for many years building houses. And I love the fact that at age 83 my grandpa still wants to help and that I have pictures of the two of them working side by side again!

Grandpa is in fabulous shape for being 83! He gets around great AND he doesn't need glasses, which puts him one up on Dad. :) He normally comes out for a couple hours in the evening, when it's cooler. That's good, because we don't want him out in the 90 degree heat over working himself! I am concerned about him helping me. I love the fact that he wants to come out, but I worry about him over-doing it and trying to do too much. I guess that's a downside of being in shape in your 80's.

Let me tell you how lucky I am to have a grandpa like this, and how much he wants to help. Right now he has a bit of a catch in his thumb when he bends it. He went to the doctor to find out if it could be fixed. The doctor told him they could do a little procedure to fix it, but he would have to rest his thumb for 3 weeks afterwards. Grandpa said, "I told him I'd call him when I wanted it done. With this project I can't be resting it for 3 weeks!"

Last Saturday Grandpa helped me fix a chalk line. I learned that you can put too much chalk in the line and it won't allow the string to wind all the way in. This is one of the many things Grandpa has taught me. He also taught me that you always cut the kids pieces of cake that are WAY too big for them so you can finish their left overs. I learned that Little Debbie oatmeal cream pies should always be stocked in the house. I also learned from Grandpa that when you go to a buffet restaurant you NEVER use the dessert bowls for your ice cream. You always go for a soup bowl because they hold WAY more ice cream. (Although it should also be noted that this lesson has made me sick when I had too much ice cream!) There are many other things that Grandpa has taught me through the years, but these are some of the highlights and the things I remember most. I hope that as this house project continues I can learn more from him.

We have a couple more months before he heads back south to the land of the sun. Until then Dad and I will enjoy the time we get to spend with Grandpa on the job. I know that I will be forever grateful that I have a grandfather that can get out and help me build my house.

Back from North Carolina

I made it back from North Carolina safely. Am I glad to be back. It was 103 and 104 degrees everyday I was down there last week. It makes the 90 degree heat we were working in yesterday feel comfortable!

I came back to find out Dad had put a couple more walls together, but hadn't been able to do much more than that because of the rain. He did have to go out one night last week with a sump pump to pump the water out of the basement. Good news though, our drain tiles work well and all the water goes right to the corner of the house where the sump basin is going to go. So Dad was able to pump all the water directly into the sump line and out to the ditch.

Friday evening the framing nailer we had borrowed wasn't working properly. (Looks like it needs some new gaskets) So Dad and Grandpa cut studs, and I dipped them in the green stuff that preserves the ends and stacked them nicely in the basement. We now have all the studs cut that we will need for the walls.

Saturday morning we went to Home Depot to buy a new framing nailer that they had on sale. After dealing with the incompetent people in the Midland store we finally had one put aside for us at the Saginaw store. Mom and Laura went over to pick that up and some more lumber for us. Once Dad got his new toy we were in business. We put up a few walls with Mom, Dad, Laura and I on Saturday afternoon and evening.


Sunday Brad came out to help. He was a tremendous help and even made a trip home for his framing nailer when ours started acting up. (Dad was up late last night...so hopefully he was able to fix ours)

We now have all of the walls for the front of the basement up. In the picture on top of the post you can see Mom and Dad working on the end wall. I didn't get a picture with it up because it was dark by the time we finished. :) It's starting to actually take form and look like a house now! I'm hoping to get quite a few more done this week and weekend so we can utilize Laura and her muscles before she goes back to school next week!

Hammers? I Thought We Were Using a Nail Gun!

Alright...I haven't put anything up here in awhile...so I'm due...I know...I'm sorry.

A quick update on the week. Tuesday and Wednesday Dad and I put drain tile in next to the footings. I thought we were through pounding those stupids stakes into the ground...but I was wrong. We had to use the stakes to keep the drain tile in place. So that wore us out a bit, considering it was 90 some degrees outside those days!

Thursday and Friday our excavator spread the pea gravel both inside and outside of the footings.

Friday afternoon our lumber was delivered for the basement walls. For those of you that do not know, we are putting in a wood basement. It consists of 2 x 8 grade 60 treated lumber. Everything is built exactly the same way a normal stud wall would be. There is a special sealer that you have to soak the ends of the lumber into, and the bottoms of the walls need stainless nails, but other than that it's the same.

Friday night Grandpa, my cousin Jenni, and her husband Dave came out to visit and check out the progress. Since Dave has never seen a wood basement he offered to come help on Saturday. Grandpa thought that would be a good idea and decided he would come out too. Jenni stayed home with Madonna so she wasn't home alone all day. Thank you Jenni! I know Grandpa appreciates being able to come out and help without worrying about Madonna all day.

Saturday morning we finished laying out the basement and then Dad started cutting plates for the walls. Unfortunately there wasn't much for Grandpa and Dave to do. Grandpa helped sort out the straight 2 x 8s and Dave hauled lumber and worked the generator for Dad. Dave also helped me haul the air compressor from the basement of Mom and Dad's house to the van. I made multiple trips to Menards, Home Depot and Lowes. One of those trips was to ALL THREE STORES! I'm sure there will be many more trips as the house progresses.

Saturday afternoon, after Grandpa and Dave left, Dad and I decided to fire up the air compressor and start building some walls. Was I excited! Well, the electrical plug on the generator and the compressor didn't match. So that was a trip to Home Depot to get the mating connectors and some cord to make an adapter. Two trips later, with the adapter wired up, we found out the generator won't run Dad's compressor. Shoot...no walls on Saturday.

Sunday morning I went up to borrow Grandpa's smaller air compressor. We got ready to fire it up and found out that it won't go above 20 psi. We found that it did the same thing at home, so Dad is going to look at the regulator and pressure gauge. So...hopefully Dad can fix Grandpa's compressor so it will work with the generator.

Sunday was pretty boring for me since there wasn't much to do with Dad laying out the walls. That was real builder stuff. :) So I ran the generator and napped in the lawn chair. Later in the day though we decided to build some walls the old fashioned way...with a hammer and nails. I was amazed Dad actually expected me to use the hammer he bought me for Christmas! Just kidding...I was expecting it at some point. I found that I wasn't too good at pounding the stainless nails in the bottom of the walls. I kept bending the stupid things. Dad said you just have to hit them with authority...well when I do that they bend in two and then they are useless! So Dad did the bottoms of the walls while I did the tops. Dad is also much speedier than I am...he can finish at least 3 studs, if not 4, to my 1 stud. I guess I have some work to do. We finished two entire walls. Ok...there are lots more to go, but it's a start!

I am in North Carolina for work this week. So Dad is on his own to build walls and make some progress. I look forward to seeing what will be finished when I return on Friday. I am disappointed that I won't be there for it though. That being said, I won't have anything new for you guys until the weekend...so stay tuned!